The article in Reuters is entitled "Drug companies influence prescribing, study finds" and it is another slam on physicians. It will probably spread quickly. The study basically states that doctors who accepted briefings or other information from drug companies were more likely to prescribe those products. We have been hearing this for a while and so much has changed ever since I have been in practice. There are no more golf outings or big events sponsored by drug companies anymore. Now this study wants doctors to NOT even talk to the reps. But here is another interesting point. Several of the researchers in the study are members of Healthy Skepticism. What do they do? Their website states that its "main aim is improving health by reducing harm from misleading health information" and they do this "because misleading health information harms health and wastes resources". In other words, this study is useless and biased! Just like I have a healthy skepticism about any drug study produced by researchers from that drug company, I also have a health skepticism about any study produced by researchers from the group Healthy Skepticism. I learned that from years of seeing drug reps, by the way. Hey, maybe the reps did help me?
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